Found Wood = Pallets wood ?

[Paul_Guraedy]

I have carved some pallet wood...mainly oak. Most of my experience; however, has been on the production end....the far end of production. When we first retired here in the hills; we sold a lot of timber (now we limit sales to specific species such as black walnut). The cheapest payment was for "tie and pallet" trees. These consist of any species from 6 inches up in diameter, any length where they can get an 8' log, and trees that have a lot of flaws making them unsuitable for lumber, etc. My point being that if you are looking for some unusual types of wood; pallets will offer it.

[cannuckcarver]

I found a pine pallet the other day.
It is easy to find up here and I pass them up a lot. I could not this time.
My question would be " What do you carve out of them?"

[Clifford_Parker]

I have been using cant cut-offs from a local sawmill/pallet factory for years. Around here they use a lot of basswood for the stringers.

[flyfisher]

The pallet wood I've used for the past few years is generally Poplar. It tends to be somewhat brittle as it's very dry but clear and close to white. It takes paint well and seems to prefer oils vs acrylics.
Some pieces range from 4-5" width to 30" --between nail holes with a thickness up to 1".
Since it's free I use it often.

[Jim-Iowa]

When I was a kid my dad worked for the Maytag Company. Rolls of steel came in in railroad cars with 4X4 mostly oak blocking. Small parts came on pallets and they were free for the taking to employees.
I could not possibly count the truckloads of lumber we halled out of there,
As was mentioned Pallet wood is most often made from the trees that are not suitable for lumber. And often are used green or not suitably dried.
I have seen 8 ft oak 4x4's that twisted up like a cork screw, these were cut up on a buzz saw for firewood.
We built several sheds from this stuff and some was so hard we sometimes had to dip spikes in mineral oil to drive them.
Pallet wood can be either a treasure or certifiable junk, but since it costs little or nothing You have nothing to lose by trying.

I don't own one but think it would be wise to use a moisture meter to be sure the wood is dry and stable before I put a lot of work into it.
I do have a moisture meter on my "Need To Buy" list, though.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Around here all pallets are made from oak and we use pallets to stack our hay on but don't think I'd ever consider carving it. Maybe if I were in to S&M it might fit in the picture but I'll just stick to the soft stuff.

[arbarnhart]

I have had mixed experiences. I got some very nice unknown light brown figured hardwood out of a crate from China. But most of the pallet slats I have come across are very plain looking rock hard oak and the cross pieces are often oak or SYP but so cracked and full of nails that they aren't worth trying to salvage.

[TreeWizard]

The pallets from overseas also brought us things like the Long horned beetle (killing Maple trees) and Emerald Ash Borer (Killing Ash trees) I wish they would require overseas shipping to be on plastic pallets.

[mdallensr]

We get pallets from Indonesia at work. They use some pretty exotic wood for pallets. We've seen Luan mahogany in some of them. I found a piece of light colored wood and cleaned it up for a spoon. We're pretty sure its jelutong.

[CarverFromNoWhere]

WOW that is a nice spoon mdallensr and look at how wide that grain is dang.

I hear ya treewizard the emerald ash bores are just east of here now and we have about 200 acres of ash woods/swamp. The same thing as the tankers dumping the ballest water in the great lakes.

I have seen furniture makers who only use recycled pallets for the wood to make chairs and such.
Carl